The three also expanded beyond the simple ad game. The telegenic Castellanos built a profile as a CNN commentator and a lucrative corporate practice: the tarnished oil company BP turned to his Purple Strategies to rebuild its image after the Gulf oil spill. The restless Stevens wrote five books, four about food and travel and a novel based on Bush’s 2000 campaign; he also picked up a regular gig writing for television and has written for shows including the hit “Northern Exposure.” Murphy also headed for Hollywood, where he’s writing, producing and developing television shows.

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“Last week, I read a story about Stuart Stevens climbing up mountains and writer of books, maker of movies and saver of golden retrievers. Who cares?” seethed Pat Griffin, a New Hampshire Republican operative who is friendly with Murphy. “Mitt Romney has been terribly, terribly served.”

In 2008, Murphy stayed on the sidelines, saying he was torn between two former clients, McCain and Romney. Castellanos and Stevens both worked for Romney and battled internally over tactics and strategy.

Castellanos thought Romney needed to play hard and win Iowa, which the candidate tried and failed to do. Stevens thought he should have paid less attention to the state, as he did this year. Castellanos worried about the threats to Romney’s right flank, like Gov. Mike Huckabee; Stevens worried about former Mayor Rudy Giuliani on his left. McCain, coming up the middle, blew Romney away in the end but Stevens and his partner, Russ Schriefer, held the candidate’s loyalty as Castellanos was pushed away.

“I have no clue how Stuart sold his vision to Romney,” Castellanos said in early December, but added that he wasn’t enjoying Romney’s abrupt stumble over Newt Gingrich. “I have no love for Stuart, but I don’t think a failed Mitt Romney candidacy is good for our country.

“I wish [Romney] would run a campaign. Everybody who runs for president should,” he said, noting that the former Massachusetts governor refused to fully engage. “Weakness is never a good strategy. Weakness attracts wolves.”

Top Romney aides, including Stevens, declined to argue campaign strategy.

The bitterness between Stevens and Murphy, meanwhile, came to a head in 2010, when two wealthy California Republicans faced off in a gubernatorial primary some saw as a kind of beauty contest for the Romney account.

Murphy worked for Meg Whitman, a close Romney ally; Stevens worked for Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner.

The acrimonious campaign came to a head when Murphy, who has rarely spoken to Stevens in their long parallel careers, called his rival on the telephone. The details of the conversation are hazy, but Murphy’s thrust, a source familiar with it said, was that a continued negative race could hurt both candidates, and that it would be too bad to feed Poizner through the “wood chipper” of politics.

Stevens saw the threat as an opportunity: Poizner called a news conference to accuse Murphy of “intimidation” and demand a criminal investigation. Murphy shot back that he had begun to question Poizner’s “mental condition.”

Murphy plotted revenge: He actually purchased a wood chipper, and considered leaving it ominously outside Stevens’s house in Palos Verdes but ultimately thought better of it. Murphy’s candidate won the primary but lost the general election, and it was Stevens who moved to Boston to work for Romney.

For now, Stevens has the front-runner at his side and no reason to encourage the intramural battle. A source close to the consultant, though, extended a final jab: He barely knows Murphy, the source said, and is “perplexed” by the animus, which he finds “slightly tawdry.”

CORRECTION: Mike Murphy did not make ads for Arnold Schwarzenegger, though he was a strategist for Schwarzenegger.

Readers' Comments (87)

The new Rasmussen Reports survey of Iowa caucus participants shows Romney on top with 25% of the vote followed by Paul at 20% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 17%. Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, both at 10%, are the only other candidates in double-digits. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann earns six percent (6%), former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman four percent (4%), while one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate and eight percent (8%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This poll reflects the highest level of support yet measured for Romney and Paul. It’s also by far the best result yet for Santorum who on Tuesday received an endorsement from Bob Vander Plaats, a major social conservative leader in Iowa. While the Evangelical Christian vote is very divided at this time, Santorum now picks up 19% of it, more than any other candidate. Romney is close behind at 18%.

Among those who say they are certain to participate in the caucus, Romney and Paul are essentially even. As always in a caucus, the organizational effort to get identified supporters to show up on January 3 is likely to determine the outcome.

Romney leads with Gingrich in second among those who consider themselves Republicans. Paul has a wide lead among non-Republicans who are likely to participate in the caucuses.

The new Rasmussen Reports survey of Iowa caucus participants shows Romney on top with 25% of the vote followed by Paul at 20% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 17%. Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, both at 10%, are the only other candidates in double-digits. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann earns six percent (6%), former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman four percent (4%), while one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate and eight percent (8%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Now Mister P............

You've been pasting this same poll in every story's comment section......

I think you should take a nap...... rest yourself.........

And when you wake up, you'll have new material!

I really like it when you say "lol...... poor [libber's name]......... Your boy is doing a bad job....... ha ha........"

So the mad doctors behind the making of Mitt "Frankenstien" Romney argue over how to make the the monster move? Well we finally got a story on Mitt from politico. Not too hard hitting nor revealing but a story none the less.

As soon as the competition is done with I'm sure Politico will dust off their hit pieces and come at the guy with both barrels to help Obama win reelection.

No one gets into politics because of their lack of ego. And all three have the ego of ten. Just as it is in the entourage of most politicians. Even in Obama's cabinet and in his own campaign staff. Egos abound in political campaigns, and there are rivals on all sides who believe they know the best way to go.

Those who have been put on the shelf know that they could do a better job. Those in the number three position are convinced things would be better if they had the post of #1. Nothing new here. What is still rather amazing is that Mitt is able to bring these people of different talents and different views together to help him chart a path to a common end. And, so far, they are quite successful as a team. Even the WH believes that Mitt is likely to be the GOP nominee, and many think that Mitt can win over Obama and his own cadre of egocentric staffers and cabinet members.

One needs only a passing glance at AG Holder to see similar ego-filled members of Obama's team.

Apparently Romney's Mormon faith does not include the 10 Commandments and certainly not "Thy shall not lie" since he has repeatedly, blantantly and deliberately misquoted President Obama pulling sound bites that his ad men manipulate into a campaign ad like quoting President Obama saying, "Americans are lazy" when he was referring to the American government's promotion of US products aboard or the misquote that "If we mention the economy we will lose." Actually President Obama quoted the McCain campaign staff during their 2008 campaign since Bush-Cheney and the Republican neo-con-artists left behind a wrecked economy and a jobs market in freefall.

Romney also is a complete fraud when trying to present himself as a "regular guy" another Republican super wealthy, $200-plus million, son of a rich man with homes from California to New Hampshire. He tried to be folksy retelling his brief summer stint as a failed mormon missionary in Paris, no less! He gave a sob story of deprivation--washing with a garden hose, etc., when in fact the British and French press revealed that he actually spent most of his time in a huge multi-million-dollar mansion complete with a chef and a house boy. Ever notice that Republicans are compulsive liars who will say anything to win and never admit mistakes as if that would be a sign of weakness rather than a character flaw.

Paid Romney lap-dog passing as a POLITICO commenter is at it again: He goes by the name of Perceptions. Yet, It boogles my mind why a perceptive paid consultant seem unable to read our tea leaves. Conservatives voters now throw their votes in to (GASP!) Ron Paul. 80% of conservatives have consitently told the RINO LIBERAL GOP establishment that they do not want Romney. Romney lacks the moral character and professionalism to be President. Romney's valiant military service five draft dodging deferals as a mormon high priest in France (where he lived in a million dollar mormon mansion), preclude him from being a Decider in Chief. In the private sector, Romney's was a JOB KILLER and corporate welfare despot. Romney's claims that he created jobs is false, just as his views on every issues: dishonest. On the contrary, Slick Willy (deux) Willard, sought federal bailouts from tax payers in all 50 states, bought prospering companies, leveraged excessive debt, paid himself and his mormon henchmen millions in tax payer bailout money, unethically used our bankruptcy codes to bankrupt these companies, fired tens of thousands of American workers (mainly in conservative rural areas), then shipped jobs over seas. The conservative Wall Street Journal reported that Romney on divested of his China holding last week. As Romney (a dishonest DRAFT DODGING MORMON HIGH PRIEST) calls for another war with a nuclear armed Iran, he failed to mention that the Romney charities continue to invest in his islamic-muslim-jihadist companies in Iran and owned by the autocratic mullahs there. And I haven't even touched on Slick Willy's FLIP FLOPS on every core coservative issue. That's coming up next. And the establishment hacks expect conservative voters to set aside our beliefs to vote for a MASSACHUSETTS TAX AND SPEND LIBERAL: WHO HELD THESE LIBERAL VIEWS FOR OVER 50 YEARS OF HIS LIFE.

As the Vietnam War raged in the 1960s, Mitt Romney received a deferment from the draft as a Mormon "minister of religion" for the duration of his missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years.

Before and after his missionary deferment, Romney also received nearly three years of deferments for his academic studies. When his deferments ended and he became eligible for military service in 1970, he drew a high number in the annual lottery that determined which young men were drafted. His high number ensured he was not drafted into the military.

The deferments for Mormon missionaries became increasingly controversial in the late 1960s, especially in Utah, leading the Mormon Church and the government to limit the number of church missionaries who could put off their military service. That agreement called for each church ward, or church district, to designate one male every six months to be exempted from potential duty for the duration of his missionary work.

Romney's home state was Michigan, making his 4-D exemption as a missionary all but automatic because of the relatively small number of Mormon missionaries from that state. It might have been more difficult in Utah, where the huge Mormon population meant that there were sometimes more missionaries than available exemptions. Most missions lasted two and a half years, as Romney's did.

Barry Mayo, who was counselor to the bishop of the ward in Pontiac, Michigan, where Romney attended church, recalled in an interview that wards were allowed to exempt one missionary every six months from the draft. He said that he could not recall any time in which more than one potential draftee sought an exemption in the ward in a six-month period, so Romney's deferment was never in doubt.

"I was aware of the fact that there was an agreement of some sort of between the church and the Selective Service because there were some wards mostly in the West where the congregation was large and the number of youth was large," Mayo said. "The circumstances were very different here. Our congregation was small and the number of youth were small. To the best of my knowledge we never had a situation where we had more than two young men wanting to go in any one year... So I don't believe that we ever had to discourage someone from going on a mission because he was above that two-per-year limit."

Mayo said no records are available from the period that would show how Romney's deferment was handled. But he said he recalled "the conclusion was `we really don't have to worry about [exceeding the quota] because we were never in that situation.' "

By serving as a missionary and being given the deferment, Romney ensured that he would not be drafted from July 1966 until February 1969. Romney's draft record from the time describes him as "minister of religion or divinity student." Mayo said the church would have considered Romney a minister.

Romney, who has said he would have served if he had been drafted, shed some light on his view of the matter in a recent interview with the Globe.

"I really don’t recall thinking about political positions when I was knocking at the door in France" as a missionary, Romney said. "I was supportive of my country. I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam."

At the same time, Romney said, he was influenced by the statement of his father, then-Michigan Governor George W. Romney, who said in 1967 that he had been "brainwashed" by US officials about Vietnam. "When my dad said that he had been wrong about Vietnam and that it was a mistake and they had been brainwashed and so forth, I certainly trusted him and believed him," Romney said.

The exemption for Mormon missionaries created controversy at the time. Non-Mormons in Utah filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 1968. The suit was still in court two years later, at a time when "the church and the Selective Service System work hand-in-hand in deferring the missionaries," according to an article from the period published by The New York Times.

Richard Leedy, the lawyer who brought the suit, said in a telephone interview that he did so because "the substantial number of deferments to missionaries made the likelihood of us non-Mormons going to Vietnam a lot more likely."

Separately, Romney's draft service was deferred due to his status as a full-time student for about three years.

Romney registered with the Selective Service in April 1965 but was not considered readily available for military service until December 1970. His name was then put into the lottery based on an individual's birthday, and he drew the number 300 at a time when no one drawing higher than 195 was drafted.

"When Governor Romney's deferment for college and missionary service ended, he made himself available for military service, and his name went into the lottery, but he was not selected," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said via e-mail.

Folks, here are the siamese twins trapped in Mitt Romney's body. Here, Mitt Romney the LIBERAL twin for the past 50 years supported Amnesty For Illegal Alien Law Breakers and Usurpers. In 2011, the Flip Flopping siamese twin claims to be against it. But Wait! .................There's more!